Premature ejaculation, which is ejaculation occurring before the individual wishes, is a dysfunction affecting more than 30% of male population, mainly adolescent, but that may also persist in the adult. Three main causes are apparently involved:
1) organic factors, such as anatomical or physiological alterations of the reproductive system;
2) psychological factors, deriving from wrong sexual education or deep-seated problems related to improper sexual development during growth;
3) external factors, such as use of drugs (amphetamines, hallucinogens), excessive consumption of alcoholics, food and medications.
Premature ejaculation can ultimately be ascribed to alterations of the neuroconduction and neuromodulation processes which modulate the sexual behaviour both at the central and peripheral levels. Therefore, pharmacological treatment usually consists in the administration of benzodiazepines (alprazolam 0.25 mg), antidepressants acting on the serotoninergic system (paroxetine 20 mg), or in the local application of anaesthetics (prilocaine 25 mg+lidocaine 25 mg).
As this type of therapy does not always prove effective and also involves side effects such as sedation or cardio circulatory problems, there is the need for novel active principles.
It has now been found that Winter savory (Satureja montana) or the extracts thereof, as well as rosmarinic acid or the extracts containing it, can be used for the preparation of medicaments for the treatment of premature ejaculation.